Increase our Faith(fulness)

Over the next couple of months God thru the Arts will be hosting a series of posts by guest bloggers as I will again participate in our annual Summer Blog Tour. I hope you follow along, check out each author’s personal blog, and find ways to unshackle your faith. 

I will also be looking for art pairings. These will be images that I feel in some way resonate with the message of the blog. This week as we hear from Tim Archer, please consider how many artists have been fascinated with capturing the beauty of horses in motion:) May God’s Peace be with you this week:))

You can follow Tim’s personal blog at: http://www.timothyarcher.com/kitchen/

Increase our Faith(fulness) by Tim Archer 

It was one of those moments. Jesus challenged his disciples to show forgiveness to others, even if it means forgiving them seven times in one day. The disciples saw the challenge and responded: “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5)

I’m not entirely sure what they hoped to get from Jesus, but I suspect they recognized the gap between Jesus’ teachings and their own abilities.

So Jesus responded by saying that faith doesn’t have to be huge; even a tiny amount can move mountains. Then he told them a parable:

Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.  ~ (Luke 17:6-10)

I think he was saying, “You don’t need more faith; you need more faithfulness.”

In other words, theirs wasn’t a head problem. It wasn’t an intellectual need. It wasn’t even a lack of commitment. What they needed to do was put their faith into action. Or, more specifically, put their faith into obedience.

Image Source: Eadweard Muybridge 1830-1904, Photographer, Sequence of a race horse galloping

Photographs animated 1887 Philadelphia

 

Hebrews 11 is the great chapter on faith. We read about Abel, Enoc, Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest. In almost every case, when we read about their faith, we read about something they did. We see their faith in their faithfulness.

Faith is more than an emotion. It’s more than an intellectual exercise. It’s something that you can observe. Faith is belief in action. Faith is being willing to listen to God and follow his lead, no matter what.

Buccaroos, 1902, Charles Russell, 1864-1926, Lithograph, Image Source Library of Congress

Faith leads to action. I can believe that a man is a doctor, yet still have no faith in him. But if I do have faith in a doctor, then I will follow his instructions. It is no special credit to me if I do what the doctor tells me to do; it is merely a symbol of the faith that I have in him.

If you’d like to have greater faith, then I believe the key is to take what faith you have and put it into action. Find ways to serve others. Tell people about what God is doing in this world. Meet needs and better your community. Because you may not need more faith at all; you might just need a bit more faithfulness.

Before the Race, c. 1882-84, Edgar Degas, 1834-1917, oil on canvas, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland. Image Source

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Timothy Archer has coordinated the Spanish-speaking Ministries for Hope For Life / Herald of Truth Ministries since 2006.  Tim’s latest book, Church Inside Out, helps churches motivate their members to be actively ministering to the community around them. You can follow Tim’s personal blog at: http://www.timothyarcher.com/kitchen/